Pearl Jam + Ted Leo Tonight at Madison Square Garden

June 25, 2008

Soon-to-be heritage act Pearl Jam are firmly in the summer of their career, which is to say these days they tend to take the other three seasons off. Last year’s Eddie Vedder–penned soundtrack to Into the Wild was at least a soothing change of pace for a band whose so-called “golden baritone” blueprint has done more damage to modern rock than anything Ticketmaster ever devised. All credit to the dudes, however, for their choice of an opener. Fans have watched Ted Leo steadily earn his way into, and then utterly destroy, progressively bigger venues since his days in Chisel; now, 13 years later, punk rock’s last best hope finally gets his shot to play what is arguably the country’s biggest venue. Amen to that. — ZACH BARON.